Legendary Lefties from the Dutch national Team

Happy New Year All! May this be our year….

A topic close to my left foot heart… You guessed it, yours truly was a left footed player as well! Once upon a time…

This post is inspired by Danny Hoekman, who wrote a book called “Ode to the Leftfoot”. Danny, himself a gifted left winger, found himself with some time on his hands and decided to write a book. He wanted to write about his career as a coach, but that didn’t really flow. Until he found this topic. The left footed player.

As mentioned, Danny dazzled the NEC fans in Nijmegen in the late 80s and played for Manchester City and Southampton in England. He was a so-called “unpredictable” left winger. He himself loathes that expression: “it’s normal for a winger to be unpredictable. It’s in your job description. You play a lot of one v ones and you can’t win them all. Robben didn’t win them all. I also played as a #10 and then I never was “unpredictable” because it requires a different type of game from a player.” Capricious and pigheaded are other monikers the lefties do get.

Status in Dutch football

Hoekman never got the same status in Dutch football as internationals like Bud Brocken, Brian Roy or John van ‘t Schip, and partly due to his headstrong character. He told his coach at Roda JC: “Never sub me after 70 minutes because I didn’t get past my back. I will at some point win the duel and win the game for you. Just trust me.”

We need to go back to 1968 when Dragan Dzajic of Yugoslavia impressed the world at the ’68 Euros. Pele called him a miracle. “I wish he was Brazilian. I never saw a gifted player such as him.” In 1976, Dzajic was still at it and bamboozled the West-German team and Hoekman was glued to the screen. “I was a leftie and always looked out for left footed players. I was mesmerized by Dzajic. In The Netherlands, Piet Keizer and Van Hanegem were my heroes and I adored Robbie Rensenbrink.”

The Nijmegen born winger realised that left footed players were wired differently. They coloured the game in, they saw solutions others didn’t and whether it was at Roda JC (Anton Janssen and Martin van Geel) or at Man City (Michael Hughes). “When I played for City, we went and watched a game of Manchester United. This 17 year old kid got subbed in and I remember thinking “My God, what am I watching? This kid is like a tornado, so good.” Hoekman saw the launch of Ryan Giggs career. “I also saw Man United, with Giggs, playing Red Star Belgrade and went to see the game for Giggs, but I was completely taken in by Dejan Savicevic. What a genius. His first touch, his turns and moves. I don’t think I ever saw a better left footed player live than him on that night.”

Dejan Savicevic versus Pep

Like Rafael van der Vaart, Hoekman is completely galvanized by left footed players. “My eyes will always go there. They usually have something special. Kristen Nygaard at AZ Alkmaar, Michel Valke, Wolgang Overath, the list is long.” But Hoekman does lament the data trend in football. “Football changed. It’s harder, it’s more corporate and it’s faster and more physical. Data is replacing “feel”. The creative left footed player is almost an endangered species.”

This became the topic of his book in which he describes 11 unique left footers in Oranje. “I think coaches don’t always “get” the left footed player, nor do they not understand wingers. There are coaches who were creative themselves. Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Van Gaal but there are many coaches who used to tough tackling defenders or midfielders. They need to see that as a winger, you something get the ball once every 10 minutes. And then you have to create something. I used to hate playing with a right footed back behind me. Coaches can’t see this but a right footer is usually positioned wrong and will play the ball into me differently than a left footer. I used to have many debates with coaches about these things.”

The moment that ended Hoekman’s career

Hoekman was a character alright. Headstrong, as mentioned. How about the time when Utrecht goalie Jan Willem van Ede tackled the light weight winger in such a way that it ended his career. He was about to make his debut in the National Team and had many suitors from big competitions showing interest. Hoekman sued the goalie in a civil court for damages and won. He worked as coach in Qatar and was told at some point that he wasn’t allowed to leave the country. That motivated him to immediately pack his bags and go. “My freedom is worth everything. I won’t let people threaten me to take that away. No paycheck is worth that.”

Hoekman can claim to be the talent scout of players like Kardioglu and Danjuma. He’s a massive data fan (despite his earlier criticism) as it does give so much more insights, but is critical on most coaches. “Most coaches are good at defensive structures. Organisation. And they usually start with: how do we set up when we don’t have possession. But the creative side? The attacking part of the game? Most coaches do not offer much in that area.” Hoekman is also concerned coaches use data wrongly. “The number of times a player loses possession is worthless. What does that tell me? Is he sloppy, or does he try to be creative and force something? Data doesn’t tell you that. A ball with the right weight. That is not captured by the data. You cannot measure everything, and definitely not the creative factor.

Danny Hoekman now

In The Netherlands, Mo Ihattaren is considered a white elephant. A unique sort. “Why did he get lost at PSV? I do believe in Co Adriaanse’ statement, that having a Ferrari is amazing, but having one without a start motor is not good. Best to have a Fiat with a strong engine, than an engine less Ferrari. And it’s time Mo demonstrates his class weekly now. But we’re fortunate to have him still in the Eredivisie.”

Hoekman also has a contrarian view on the inverted winger. “In the olden days, Rensenbrink and Moulijn and co, they would pass a player on the outside and cross the ball. Today, wingers don’t really pass a player, when they come inside. They merely avoid the duel and go inside to pass and move or to cross or shoot. And I can’t figure out how goalies are still bamboozled by these curling shots to the far post? You know this is what they do! I am convinced that Weghorst and now Til at PSV would love for their wingers to go past the outside and swing balls into the box. Look at “failing” strikers, like Hojlund at Man United. He never got any service from Garnacho, last season. I would not play with a striker if I had those wingers.”

The Goat, Willem van Hanegem, using his right foot to stand on

Hoekman wrote his book for multiple reasons, one the fact that some cracker players from back in the 70s and 80s are not known to the current generation of players. “I was stunned to read that Gakpo had no idea who Rensenbrink was?? I mean…. doesn’t a player like him watch the 1974 matches on YouTube? Nygaard? Pierre Vermeulen? Willy Brokamp, Van der Kuylen? Surely, the new generation of talents should know these names!?”

Rob de Wit and Arjen Robben are definitely in the book, but the player who will forever be mentioned as the Dutch best left footer is obviously Willem van Hanegem. “He is an icon, in all aspects. A great player, a successful and strongwilled coach and a true personality. He is a true contrarian and as a player he had everything: leadership, talent, a tremendous pass, a great header of the ball and tough as nails. And he saw openings others simply didn’t see. It’s not strange that even Cruyff said Willem was better than him.”

Tragic Rob de Wit in his peak

The current National Team could use some more left footers. “I’m still disappointed we let Ziyech slip. His left foot is magic. We don’t have enough lefties now. In the 2000 team, at the Euros, we had 5 left footed players and 5 right footed players. The ultimate balance. Now, we only have one: Mickey van der Ven. I think Frenkie is two-footed which helps. We had no left footed attackers, at all.”

In today’s football, the left footers are still considered the elite amongst players: from Messi to Maradona, Robben to Roberto Carlos, Mo Sallah to Puskas, Van Persie to Ryan Giggs, from Yamal to Saka.

Which left footers are in your fave players list? Leave your comments below.

Danny Hoekman’s book is called “11 Unique Left Footers” and is in shops in November (in Dutch). Thanks to VI Pro for the inspiration and for allowing us to run with this re-worked post.